Oh hey. Did you miss me?

A few of you have expressed dissatisfaction with the way things turned out in the previous story.

Namely the following points

1. Why did he go into the camp! What was he thinking!

2. His actions in the past few chapters were dumb, I wouldn't have done that.

3. Are you turning this into a dumb idiot smashing things?

1. I failed to explain his thoughts in more detail, pushing instead to finish up the chapter.

Also refer to 2.

2. Explained in this chapter

3. Refer to 1 and 2. But remember, he has only one weapon. Words obviously fail him.

The first part of the chapter is a flashback, explaining his motives and his actions.

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When I woke up, the sun was up and the tent was dyed a pale blue, sunlight shining through the blue white striped fabric. I felt relaxed, more relaxed than I had been in the past few days.

I casually looked at the window floating in front of me before swiping it away.

Update 0.2aUpdate Log

Gardening and associated subskills have been removed

I began to remember the events of the past few days, the fear that had filled me and the desperation that drove me on.

When I was captured by Talok, I had been filled with fear. Fear of the unknown, fear that he was stronger than me and fear as I was unable to resist against him.

The fear had led me to escape, and my escape had brought me a costly mistake. Underestimating my strength, I killed for the first time in a single moment. My fear escalated at that point and I began to feel desperate. Things had gotten worse, and I thought it was bad already. Running through the corridors I saw a gun coming around the corner, and I was forced to make a choice. I couldn't run away in time and there was a very real chance of being shot. I resolved to disarm him, raising my club to do so. But when I whacked my club down on his gun, I didn't expect his hand to get caught and brutally crushed. I wasn't able to help him and had to keep moving on, leaving him moaning in pain as I turned my back to make my escape. But having turned my back to someone I considered harmless, I felt pinpricks of pain in my back as taser barbs dug in, and less than a second later my limbs stiffened in pain as wattage run through my body.

My fear had escalated, I knew that death was a very real possibility as the pain coursed through my limbs. My mind snapped, my desperation roared and I killed him. The guards I found, I killed. I could not afford to be stopped here, not if I wanted to live, not if I wanted to see my aunt again. I was going to get out of here, I was not going to be killed, and if they were trying to kill me. I would respond in kind. Even when I came to my senses I knew I was screwed, I knew I had dug myself too far, I would have to continue down the path I set for I had no chance of them letting this go.

Inside the rift room, when I saw Talok and he saw me, I knew I was doomed. My only possibility of escape lied inside the rift. I didn't know what it was or where it led, but the crates indicated a destination, and the removal of the blood gem was making the rift go unstable. Talok surely couldn't follow me if the timing was right. Gambling with my life, I jumped in and was taken away. As nervewrecking as it was, my gamble paid off and I lived. Growing tired as the adrenaline wore off, I left the building and exhausted I then fell asleep in the grass.

I had woken the next day feeling more like myself, pushing the memories of those I had slain out of my head. I couldn't afford to be distracted here. My stomach growled with hunger as I realized that there was nothing around here that offered food, save for one certain place. I looked towards the camp with calculating eyes. I knew that there was danger in it, that Talok could be waiting there. My stomach growled and I pushed myself into action, moving towards the rift building. At the very least, I could check the rift itself to confirm Talok's presence.

But when I checked, the rift was unstable as ever and even as I breathed a sigh of relief, I knew it indicated I was free to move around, that the monster wasn't in this world. The guards had surely come from here and I had fought them before and won. I could surely do it again, especially against a camp as empty as this. As I moved through the tents, I ate the small morsels of food I found inside them, filling my stomach as I sneaked to avoid being seen. When I came to the commanders tent, my arrogance betrayed me after I was spotted. Even as I knew I should run, I thought to myself that I could surely handle them, perhaps calm them down and have a conversation, that I had no need to run. I knew it was surely risky, but I was confident in my strength and the power of my club.

But in a single attack, the mage made my heart falter. But even that wasn't enough to discourage me. How could I lose against an inferior being? I couldn't lose. But even as I moved to dodge the mage's second attack, I was caught in the trap as the guards fell to the ground and the flames roared . Crying in the unexpected pain, the mage struck me down, the guards struck me down and with the darkness of the pain came the fear. With my fear mounting I began to grow desperate, desperation whispering words into my ears. I had to kill again, kill so that I may live.

It wasn't wholly blind rage, even in my state of fear I knew I stood less of a chance if I left them, if I ran away after being spotted they would keep a eye out for me, call for reinforcements and they would turn my life into a hell. They were at their weakest now, disorganized and unprepared for me. My skills were unknown and I believed they were unaware I was in this world, not yet having called for reinforcements. I couldn't afford to let them go, I would doom myself.

Having slayed them, my mind made itself known. Screaming for release even as my body felt ready to drop. I wasn't physically tired, I knew that much. But I wanted to sleep, sleep and turn the day into a memory. Push it away. Seeking out a bed, I closed my eyes and slumbered.

Author: I hope that explains his actions suitably..

Having wasted time thinking, I got up, my legs firm under me as I went outside. Moving outside the camp to the road, I looked into the distance for moving shapes of travelers, but much to my relief there was nothing but the empty dirt road. As I moved about the camp, I looked about to make sure that nothing had changed overnight before moving towards the stone building. After checking the rift to see if the situation had changed, I moved through the camp deep in thought.

RiftUnstable rift

Normally stable, there is no mana source on the other side

Deals 10,000 DMG

My first decision of the day was that I needed to wash. My skin looked terrible, tatters of burnt flesh hanging on with crusted blood giving me a reddened appearance. I don't have the imagination to appropriately describe it, but I really needed to wash myself off. I smelled terrible.

Locating the showers was simple, inside the setup consisted of buckets of water with slabs of stone on the ground. The stone seemed somewhat elaborate, but the drainage ditches to the sides of the tent moved the water elsewhere. I wasn't sure where, and didn't care to check.

Undressing, my clothes were placed to the side as I took a bucket and emptied it over my body, cold water running down my body as I shivered in delight. Tense muscles began to relax as the water streamed down, pooling onto the floor before trickling down into the drains. It wasn't until my body felt clean again that my attention turned to my clothes. It was a sad little pile, my shirt had long been abandoned and the jeans were scorched and soaked in red with small holes where bullets had penetrated the fabric.

The socks and shoes were somewhat better, just requiring a wash to rinse the blood out. Afterwards a faint red tinge remained which discolored the leather, but it wasn't particularly noticeable as they were black. Reluctantly I decided to abandon my clothing, taking just the socks and shoes and seeking new clothing elsewhere in this camp. It wasn't a large deal as I would have had to do this anyway, especially if I wanted to fit into this world.

After rummaging through the tents, I was eventually outfitted with clothing that proved to fit well. The coins that were found were placed into my balance, turning into a new currency separate from the one I had already. Wearing a cotton shirt, the weave was rougher than what I was used to with my lower body outfitted with brown trousers that felt strange but were simple to adjust to. Thankfully however it seemed that this world had heard of the concept of pockets. Wrapped about my face was a thin white cloth which revealed just my eyes, my face and hair being hidden. Using this, my identity would be hidden in regards to the 'Declared war on the Boligian Empire', it was better to be safe than sorry. My thoughts then turned towards provisions. I would need to take stuff from this camp, especially as better chances would be unlikely to come by. Sadly I would be unable to spend much time here so I would be limited to taking only what I needed without investigating every little thing. My best bets on finding the basics would be the four large tents in this camp.

The commanders tent was the tallest tent and the most noticeable, with the meal tent, the showers and the storage tent being the three that I had found. Moving first to the commanders tent, my intention was to find what information I could there and gather intelligence about this place. The table was covered in documents with the majority being written in the language of this country which were unreadable by me, thankfully however I also located a few maps amidst the pile which I could look at. Going over them three of the maps were useless, showing places on Earth that I knew already, it was also mildly interesting that they looked like they had been produced and purchased on earth.. The one map that looked useful was handdrawn on a piece of velvet, the details on it were scarce however with nothing like the detail found on a modern map. Studying it, it showed the area I was in and to the side was the camp drawn as a small shaded box inside a ring of mountains. A road started from the camp and led through the mountain gap, inside the mountain gap was a small shaded box with a line of text written next to it. A checkpoint? The road continued on through the map and occasionally passed through other shaded boxes which I guessed to be small villages. Eventually the line arrived at a large shaded box with big letters written. Obviously a city. Aside from that, there was extremely little else on the map, showing just the path from the city to the outpost. The map was likely used solely for directions, not as a proper map of the area.

I left the stuff on the table alone and moved to search the tent, they were of no special help to me and while the map of this place was helpful, it didn't give me enough information to be worth carrying. Looking through the tent, three chests were found which ranged from large, medium and small. The large chest wasn't locked and contained documents, all of which had no information I could use. I could take my time to read their language, but I didn't currently have the time to waste. The medium sized chest proved to be locked, and when I tried to move it I found that it was heavy. I couldn't find a key when looking in the obvious places, so taking out my club and stepping backwards, I controlled my strength as I whacked at the back of the chest to knock the hinges off. Inside proved somewhat rewarding, the contents contained plenty of coins of the same type I had found in the tents amidst the guards items. However mixed with the coins was a coin of a different denomination that I hadn't found previously, placing it into my balance had the number jump by 500.

Placing the currency in my balance, I turned to the last chest. Unlike the other two chests this was very small and easily held in a single hand. Shaking it gently and listening to the insides it seemed to contain several small items wrapped in something. It didn't feel like money and was likely to be fragile, easy to break. But seeing as I didn't have the key.. I would simply grab my club, raise it high and smash- no. There was a knife/dagger on the table I could use.

Carefully carving the wood around the lock, I used my strength to force the point of the dagger into the hard wood. I worked carefully as I carved the wood, being sure not to slip or drop the small container. Finally I managed to break the lock off and opened it. Wrapped inside a soft cloth (felt?) were two things, one was the white crystal that the guards had carried in the outpost, which I believed they used to communicate. While this one was bigger and fatter than the ones the guards had, it was doubtless of the same type. The other object I found was a ebony figurine of a head, the face sculpted into that of a young girls with a bright smile on her face. Looking at both, I thought *Identify*

Crystal of ResonanceSplintered, this crystal has been enchanted to consume mana to communicate with its companion crystals

Hana's SmileA delicate figurine of ebony, this holds sentimental value to its owner

The crystal I placed on the table, intending to take it with me but the figurine I placed back into the small chest and returned it to where I had found it. Even if it proved to be worth something, I didn't feel comfortable taking it, not when it was Taloks. Opening up the inventory, I looked at the four slots I had inside and realized I had a problem.

I didn't have enough space to carry everything I wanted to.

Hissing with irritation, I looked at it for a moment before I had a realization. Over the past few days I had gained a few levels and ignored the messages informing me of unassigned stat points, focusing instead on fighting and running. My gamer skill was also close to leveling up, and it was possible that it might levelup after doing this. Opening my stats, I placed all of the free points into END, the best use for the trip I had ahead of me. After I finished, a window displayed.

The skill Gamer has reached level 6Inventory increases to 3x3 slots

Sleeping restores exhaustion

Sleeping effects debuffs to wear off a day sooner

Author: And the 'Inventory skill' magically disappears!

NameJonathan CliffTitlesGamerLevel16 [67%]Balance$1533

₭5223Health459/459Stamina493/682VIT42STR39END68AGI38DEX34INT34WIS34LUK19

Skills

Gamer lv.6 [1%]

Cooking lv.19 [67%]

Clubs lv.30 [75%]

Shock Resistance lv.19 [67%]

Reading lv.19 [34%]

Storytelling lv.12 [4%]

Meditation lv.2 [22%]

Crafting

Woodworking lv.1 [96%]

Banker lv.4 [84%]

Negotiation lv.3 [43%]

Opening my inventory, I grinned at the five empty slots I had gained. The new slots were a blessing, allowing me to carry more and more without any penalties. Back on earth I had weighed myself with my club inside my inventory and outside of my inventory, the club itself was heavy, but when inside my inventory the weight was a mere 10th. But as for the sleeping buffs, it looked to be frankly useless. My health and stamina were already completely restored when I slept and I did not receive debuffs that lasted that long. Yet. I did have a faint whisper of an idea to abuse it, but I would have to leave it for later. Picking the crystal off the table, I placed it in a slot and grabbed all the papers I could see and pushed them into another slot to bring the item count to 74.

Leaving the commanders tent, I headed towards the meal tent to check it out if it had food and water I could take. The inside of the meal tent was simple, the tent had long tables of stone running inside with a few tables sitting in the open with campfires and metal frames setup over them, ready to be used to prepare a meal. The tables were pretty amazing however, they were solid stone with the sides being sunken inwards to provide a ledge with variations of stone and wooden chairs placed around. I was curious on how it had been created, it couldn't possibly have been transported overland as it was far too heavy for that. They lived near mountains, was it the work of guards in their free time? Magic?

This place was rather useless to my needs so I turned to the last tent, the supplies. It sat in a open area with the sides bolted down and the doorway completely visible to make it impossible to enter unnoticed. It was a nice attempt to keep poachers out, but no one was around to see me as I entered. Inside were barrels and crates stacked against the walls and over the ground. Inside was cool and gloomy with the tent made of a thick fabric, however even in the darkness I didn't have trouble moving around, my eyes adjusting rapidly to the darkness as I moved around. Finding the water was simple, the barrels stood in a distinct group with a single word written on them. One of the barrel lids was loose which helped me recognize what they all contained.

It was only when I tried to fit a barrel inside my inventory that I had a problem. It was too large for the window. Heaving and pushing it sideways into the inventory slot worked to a extent, but when the edges of the barrel knocked against the sides of the window I could no longer get it to move inside. It seemed that my inventory wasn't able to magically carry huge items after all..

It was disappointing, but I snickered as I thought of another idea. It would have been hilarious, had it worked. But alas, placing my inventory inside the water and trying to direct it inside a slot was a failure.

Ultimately I ended up using the plastic water bottles I found in a crate, they looked to be from earth and were likely sold here in this world. Not my problem. I was able to fill and place them inside my inventory but the chest only contained 54 bottles and I was unable to find more in the crates. I wanted to free up another slot, so taking a leather satchel from a crate I moved the blood gem and the crystal of something inside before placing the satchel back into my inventory, giving me that extra slot at no real cost. With the four slots I had left, I took salted pork from a barrel and placed it in one by one until I met the cap of 99, then I did the same with some other kind of meat and a tent I had taken down. The tent was pretty simple, consisting of sewed cloth supported by poles of wood and pegs in the ground. Thankfully wrapping the poles and pegs in the fabric allowed the tent to fit in a single slot, though I felt a little guilty, leaving someone's belongings out in the open. Even if they were likely dead.. Wincing with the sudden memories, I pushed them away and focused again on my tasks. The last slot I debated using to store a weapon of some type, such as a spear. But decided against it as I would be unable to sell it and as for using it, I preferred the club in terms of power. I would have liked to put bread inside, but there wasn't actually a bakery. I think they got their bread from Earth.. I decided on green oranges, obviously from earth. Again, it capped at 99.

The sun was in the middle of the sky by the time I was ready to leave, my preparations having taken all morning as I prepared to travel. My current goal was to head towards the gap, while I did think that going over the mountains would be safest, I still needed to get back home and getting lost wasn't the answer. I wanted to find information and the best way to do this was to enter civilization. I knew I didn't need to do this, that I could hide out in the middle of nowhere for some time. But I firmly believed that I would be able to hide my identity and learn magic somehow. Even with the Boligian Empire hating on me, my gamer ability should allow me to learn a disguise skill. I could force my way out of situations if need be and in my free time, I would train. Train to be stronger than Talok had ever been.

Creating my own rift to my world was not needed, eventually people would find out about this camp and the rift would be reopened. I had faith in that. The people I had slain yesterday were buried far in the fields, impossible to find and giving me more time in this world before the rift is stabilized and my presence is known.

Another thing I had found interesting about this camp and rift was the story behind it. The rift was old and the camp well established, and yet for some reason I could only guess at, Earth was not being invaded. The Outpost hadn't been called a Trading Center, but rather the militaristic name of Outpost. It was obviously a operation by their army, the way the Outpost had been constructed with its corridors twisting like a maze also hinted towards war-like operations. And yet, they didn't attack.

My two favorite theories about this was a government conspiracy on Earth, and the second was that the magnetic forces inside the rift made it far too inconvenient to wage war.

But whatever the case was, I was sure that once Talok returned and made his report, this place was going to be much harder to break through. I was going to need to get stronger, much stronger than what I am now.

I'm definitely going to get stronger, and I'm definitely going to return.